Anne Elizabeth is 6 MONTHS OLD!

That's half a year, folks! I've been waiting for this age since the day she was born (maybe even before!) I LOVE this age. Our relationship is 2-sided and she gets SOOOO excited to see us! She's stationary, but loves to lay around and interact with people and toys. She's finally on a great schedule. She's observant and completely lights up our lives!



Chris was talking about how much he loves it when she lays her head on him as he's carrying her to bed. He said something about how crazy it was that she is our last baby. He said, "We definitely needed to have her." He is SO right. We weren't exactly on the same page when Abigail was born. Throughout the pregnancy and even after she was born, I never thought of her as our last, but Chris was very content with having just 2 kids. Annie was a true surprise, apparently one we didn't even know we needed!

Knowing that she is our last helps us to enjoy everything so much more. I'm not as sad as I thought I'd be. Three must be my lucky number, because I am super content with being done with all the baby stuff (good bye baby swing! So long, 4 ounce bottles!)

Annie is taking all naps in her crib (YAY!) After about 90 minutes-2 hours of wake time she starts to show signs of being tired. I close her curtains, turn on her sound machine and sea horse. I lay her down and offer her a paci (sometimes she takes it, sometimes she doesn't.) She turns on her side and falls right to sleep. She actually sleeps on her belly 90% of the time. Her naps can be as short as 45 minutes to as long as 2 hours. I'd say she's taking 3-4 naps a day. She goes to bed between 7-8 pm and still wakes before midnight at some point to eat. She wakes again between 2-3, then 5-6 to eat. Luckily she has no problems going back to sleep after her feedings!

She loves her doorway jumper and exersaucer. She LOVES to be on her belly and pushes herself way up. She has pretty much outgrown her Rainforest bouncer...she likes to push down on her feet and her head goes all the way to the top! She can sit straight up in her Tiny Love Rocker and she arches her back in the Bumbo. She's not sitting up by herself yet, so we're in a very weird transition stage, lol.

At her appointment she was 26 inches long and 16 pounds :) She's wearing 6 month clothes. Again, sort of in a weird transition stage...too big for 3-6 but too small for 6-9. She just started wearing size 3 diapers! She drinks 5-6 ounces of milk and we've started giving her real food. So far just oatmeal, bananas, and toast (dry and with jelly.) Introduced the sippy cup with water, but she hasn't gotten the hang of that just yet.

Her stranger anxiety is MUCH better! I took her to my school for Pride Day and wore her in the Bjorn. She wouldn't smile at anyone. Then we went to visit Chris at work and of course she was ALL smiles :) However, she did let Grandma hold her later that day. She actually smiled at people at dance class the next day and at brunch with my siblings the day after that! Progress is being made :) She's been giving half-smiles to everyone, lol.

The lovely big sisters, at 6 months old:

Audrey:
15 lbs 9 ounces, 24 inches




Abigail:

18lbs, 27 1/2 inches (WOW!!)





I'm so excited for her to start sitting up in the next few weeks. I want to do a photo shoot as soon as she does (like we did with the older girls.) It doesn't feel like time is flying by and I think that has a lot to do with getting to stay home. I do miss school (confirmed by my recent visit- I miss it SO MUCH!!) But I also love being home and spending so much time with the girls. I am very grateful! In 5 short months I'll be going back to work. When Audrey turned 6 months (June), I was getting out for the summer. When Abigail was 6 months (Oct) I was two months back into work (that was tough!) Being able to spend so much time with Anne during her first year has been a blessing!

Abigail's Big Girl Bed...and a funny story :)

A few days ago I decided to take the rail off of Abby's crib. She'll be 3 at the end of next month, and frankly I was tired of hearing her yell for us every.single.morning. "I'm awake! It's morning! HEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPPP!!" LOL.

My only worry was that she'd constantly get out of bed. Other than that, she sleeps through the night and we don't hear from her until morning. I have a simple monitor in her room, but last night had me wishing we had a video monitor!

I fed Annie around 1:30 am, checked on the older girls, and was back to sleep by 2:00. At some point after that, I heard Audrey come in with her pillow and blanket and lay on the floor next to my side (a normal occurrence!) Around 5:00, I heard a sweet little voice. I *think* it was saying something like, "You can do it!" I must've been really tired, because I thought it was Audrey talking in her sleep. Just a few minutes later I heard Annie fuss (that always wakes me up!) As I was bringing her into the living room to be changed, I noticed one of our toy baskets in the hall. It definitely wasn't there before. I started changing Annie, who was really starting to fuss. All of a sudden, Abigail comes around the corner, covering her ears, and says, "It's too loud! I can't sleep!!"

The funny thing is? She came out of MY room. HER room is across the house! Apparently it was her talking in my room, she was on Dad's side of the bed, trying to wake him up, lol. I have no idea what else she did, or how long she was up wandering around. Needless to say, the gate is going up tonight :)

Little stinker!

Edit: We totally put the gate up last night, yet still woke to Abby in our room. When I asked her what happened to the gate, she said, "You put it up so I took it down." Score: Parents-0, Kid-1.

Dropcam.com is currently running a fun campaign, “Tales From the Playroom.” One of my readers works for Dropcam and asked me to post something funny that had recently happened...this couldn't have been more perfectly timed! If you have a funny story, let me know and I'll get you her info...stories are featured on their social media sites and shared with thousands of viewers. Here's their website: https://www.dropcam.com/baby-monitor.

Anne Elizabeth is 5 months old!

GOD I love this girl! Annie is a little ray of sunshine, the best little cuddle bug, and gives the sweetest smiles ever! I love.her.face.



She's wearing size 3-6 months and still in size 2 diapers. She eats about 5 ounces, every 2-4 hours.

We have a very simple bedtime routine; lotion, PJs, swaddle, bottle, rock, into her bed awake. Every few days we'll do a bath first. She's in bed between 7-8. Up until last week, Chris was still dream feeding around 10:30. She would get a good stretch and go until about 1:30 am. After that, she'd wake every 2 hours and she would want to EAT.

She graduated from a swaddle to a sleep sack (she kept breaking out!) Definitely a rough few nights! I had Chris stop dream feeding her, too. I figured we should just let her go through her natural sleep/wake cycle. She still goes to bed between 7-8, and still wakes up to eat often throughout the night. By 4 am I end up sleeping on the couch with her in the bouncer next to me.

I will say that she's good at putting herself to sleep. At night I put her down drowsy and she's out within 3 minutes. After her night feedings I put her down wide awake and she just babbles and squeals for a few minutes before falling asleep. I'll be so happy when she's ready to be sleep trained. Not just for the longer stretches of sleep, but for the reliable routine and naps in her crib. I feel so bad when I tell the older girls to "be quiet!" I do love watching her fall asleep. She'll look at me, I'll smile at her, and she smiles right back

She is very playful...she reaches for her overhead toys and swats at them. She's great on her belly and is rolling a lot. She is very content just sitting around and watching her big sisters play. She hangs out with me in the kitchen while I cook and clean. She takes most naps in her swing (sometimes in her bouncer if I'm pumping.) She LOVES grabbing and playing with her feet (I could just DIE it's so cute to watch!!)



I feel like she's much more laid back and "easier." She doesn't need to be held all the time or entertained by us constantly. She loves her doorway jumper! Abigail enjoys watching her in it- she laughs and laughs- it is SO cute! I swear, she is just the best big sister. The way she talks to Annie and plays with her, I'm so proud of her!

I'm wondering if she has some social anxiety? When we go out (which is rare) and she starts to fuss, I take her out of her seat and then she starts full-on SCREAMING! She won't take her bottle or paci. I walk her around and bouce her...it seems to help if I flip her onto her belly and hold her like a football while slightly bouncing her. I don't know if it's gas because it happens hours after she's eaten. It only happens when we're out...at her doctor appointment, dance class, the children's theater. Even at Grandma's house (she screamed for 2 hours when Chris and I went out for Valentines day!) Thankfully these are all kid-friendly places, but it's stressful nonetheless :( I ended up holding her through my haircut and blow dry...luckily she didn't constantly scream (like usual), she just laid against me :( We were out to lunch yesterday and I passed her around the table..she screamed until she got back to me. Such a Momma's girl!

In other news, we booked our summer vacation! We've talked about renting a beach house with our friends for years now, and we're finally doing it! 4 adults, 6 kids...crazy fun times ahead! Annie will be 10 months old :) `

Big sisters at 5 months old:

Audrey




Abigail




This month was difficult with her sleep being all over the place. There were times I wanted to lose my shit (I can't think of a nicer way to put it.) I keep trying to put it into perspective...this is such a small amount of time in our lives. When I'm up all night because she's on a date I know I'm going to wish for these nights back. It helps...I hug her close, kiss her soft cheeks and she just smiles and coos at me. I feel so sad for my future self, when that will just be a memory :(

Having her is sometimes surreal to me. She's an absolute dream come true. I look at her and just want to burst. We love, love, LOVE you, baby Annie!!